Speedway: Rebels aim to build on form against Tigers

For the fourth week in a row the Somerset Rebels hit the 60-point mark at the Oaktree Arena, this time it being the Redcar Bears who were on the receiving end of what can only be described as a near flawless performance by the Rebels.

As a contest, this match was over as early as the 4th heat, each of which had seen Somerset record maximum 5-1 heat advantages to leave the Bears reeling, and from which there was to be no return for the visitors, Somerset final margin of victory being every bit as emphatic as the score-line might suggest, with Nick Morris and Olly Allen ending the night both unbeaten by an opposition rider.

"The boys were just in awesome form and Redcar had no answer to the way we rode here tonight," said Somerset team manager Garry May afterwards, "It's not as if Redcar are a bad side, but we never gave them a look-in as we hit them hard from the off and never let up throughout the whole match on another perfectly prepared race-track."

The Rebels will be looking to continue their recent excellent run of form when they welcome the Sheffield Tigers to the Oaktree Arena on Friday night in the Premier League.

Although Sheffield have qualified for the semi-final stages of the League Cup, it has not stopped them from making changes to their line-up and have recently dropped Adam Roynon and brought in Australian Ty Proctor.

The Tigers are led by three-time British under-21 champion Simon Stead. The 32-year-old holds the record of being the highest individual points' scorer in a team match at the Oaktree Arena when he posted a 21-point maximum when guesting for Reading in their match at Somerset back in 2005.

Sheffield have experience in the main body of the team with Leigh Lanham and Andre Compton supporting Stead and Proctor, the 'young blood' in the top five being provided by Australian Taylor Poole.

Somerset will be tracking their full 1-7 for Friday's match, Brady Kurtz suffering no ill-effects of his nasty looking spill in heat 9 of last Friday's demolition of Redcar. His withdrawal from the meeting following his crash was a precaution on the part of the Somerset team management.

Rebels boss May said: "On paper Sheffield have a team that could really push us, and with Ty (Proctor) now in their side I am sure that he will be coming to the Oaktree Arena wanting to prove a point, but I think our greater all-round strength should see us through to what we hope will be another maximum three league points."